Thursday, September 4, 2008

This is one of those "it could only happen to me" posts.

Tuesday afternoon I am sitting on my chair watching TV minding my own business when the phone rings.

Now people who know me know, despite the fact my name is spelled Gillian with a "G" its pronounced Jillian. So I always know its someone who doesn't know me when they pronounce my name wrong.

So I answer the phone.

He: Can I speak to Gillian so & so (pronounced wrong)

Me: That's me

He: My name is Detective so & so from so & so Regional Police

Me: Okay

He: I am calling to remind you about tomorrow's court date.

Me: EXCUSE ME????

He: We sent you a subpoena in the mail, regarding the attempted break in last February on your property, and tomorrows the court date. ( Read this to see all about the attempted break-in)

Me: But I have a hair appointment in the afternoon.

He: Oh don't worry we'll be finished with you by lunch time and they take a break at 12 noon.

Me: You don't understand, I am a woman of a certain age and am having my hair dyed, so will be all afternoon.

He: Don't worry we'll make sure you make your hair appointment.

Me: Well okay then, but what do I do and where do I go.

He then tells me the address but has to phone me back with the correct court room. So I hang up the phone (or so I thought). So I sit and wait and wait for the phone to ring. 45 minutes later still no phone call, I then check the phone, and I can't have hung up the phone properly, however there is a message from Detective so & so, so I call him back.

Me: Hi its Gillian

He: Okay well go to so and so, in room *** and be there around 9.30am.

Me: Fine but I will be able to get to my hair appointment right?

He: No problem.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. I am at the court house by 9.15am. I sit, and I sit, I ask a police officer what the scoop is, and he tells me just to sit and wait. Around 10.15am a guy finally comes to talk to me and it turns out to be the Detective that talked to me to day before. So he tells me that I will be called in shortly, and that I may be cross examined. I tell the prosecutor and the detective once again I have a hair appointment, and they say they will make sure I am out in time.

So by 10.30 am things finally get going. The kid and his father are there. He pleads not guilty to two break and enters, and one attempted break-in (our house). I was called up to the stand and the prosecutor questions me and I answer his questions. Then its the defense's turn and lets just say I wasn't a happy camper. First of all he confused the hell out of me by using double negatives (judges words, not mine), I had no clue what he was talking about, so even the judge told him off. He was obviously trying to make me look like a dim wit, so needless to say that got my back up, and the headache I had, had since first thing was threatening to go into a migraine at this point. Anyway the jist of it all I walked out of court at 10.45am.

A couple of things that irritated the heck out of me, I was told to be there by 9.30am and no one else turned up to 10am. Despite me saying to the prosecutor I didn't want my address released to the court, as the kid lives in my neighbourhood (I don't know him) I had no choice to tell the court my full name and address. Thanks to this kid I was too frightened to leave the house for three days, and have had to have a full alarm system put into the house. And the defense attorney in turn made me feel guilty :0( I went into court as my civic duty, I probably didn't have to as I was subpoenaed and hadn't received any paperwork, and ended up feeling like I was the bad guy.

This happened 18 months ago and this is the fourth court date that has been scheduled. No wonder so many people get off scott free, as they go over the date when they can be prosecuted. This kid pleaded not guilty as he is trying to get off on a technicality........which is a lot of bull.

Then this afternoon I had to go to the hairdressers and get my hair done. Well for those of you who have been following my blog since the beginning, knows what a stressful thing this is for me. Read here and here for past tales of my hair salon experiences. So anyhow I have my hair done and $100 later for a cut and colour I leave the salon. I am as happy as I am ever going to be regarding my hair, but it still irritates me that I have to pay $100 for a cut and colour ($35 for cut, $45 for colour, taxes and $16 tip). At least this time though I do like the way she cuts my hair and I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and get used to paying that amount of money to have my hair cut and coloured.

Another thing that irritated me today, was I open up the newspaper and there is an ad in the paper for the camera I bought on the weekend at the store where I bought it, and the camera is on sale as a package that includes a printer and ink and paper {{{SIGH}}} so I now have to go back to the store and whine on at them as to why they didn't sell me this package in the first place???

I did have one bright spot and that was Contract Testing where I had to taste test something new and have to admit, I WILL be buying this product when it comes out..can't say more than that.

So there you go, it can only happen to me.............

10 comments:

Angry In Oman said...

Gill you poor woman. Don't feel guilty, if that little bugger hadn't tried to ROB you, he wouldn't be in that situation in the first place.

:)

Niki said...

OY! what a day! Days like this happen to me too, just so you know you are not alone.

Thanks for your encouraging comments and prayers about my mum.

Blessings,
Niki

DeniseinVA said...

Good, good grief to put it politely!!!! My heart goes out to you for a day like that. Why on earth didn't they give you several days warning for a start? You could have been more prepared for such a traumatic event. Nasty defense attorney too. Glad you got your hair done to your liking, even if your strands must be lined with gold leaf ;))))) How's that headache? Holiday's coming soon :)))))

Mary said...

The court system can be a real pain and I'm sorry that you had to go through so much and have to live in fear of this kid. I can't handle even having my hair cut and hate the expense, so I started cutting my own a long time ago and turned white early...it's hereditary and just never bothered to fight it. Days like this are so depressing. Hope tomorrow is better!

Janet said...

Oh dear, it sounds like you had a really bad hair day. :-) Please pardon the pun.

Cathi said...

The whole court thing is such a nightmare. They tell witnesses to be there early to make sure that they have all their ducks in a row, so to speak. Typical lawyers -- they don't think about anyone else's time issues. As to the defence counsel -- he was being a jerk, imo, and deliberately trying to confuse with his double negatives. I'm surprised the judge let him get away with it at all.
Don't you dare feel badly about it -- the kid was the one in the wrong, not you. Sometimes I think our justice system needs a huge overhaul -- and this is one of those times!

Jess said...

Man....what a bunch of crap!

And I'm not trying to add to the bad, but around here you would always pay that much for cut and color!

And how did you get the job of taste-testing? Do you have a degree for it? It sounds cool!

sweetness said...

what an eventful week for you ....big hugs sweetie!

cheshire wife said...

Sounds like it couldn't get any worse. We have had a burglar alarm since we were burgled the day before our first wedding anniversary.

Gill - That British Woman said...

thanks for all your comments.......what a stressful day........

Gill

{{{SIGH}}}

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